Rescue drone spots missing Frenchwoman on Koh Adang near Lipe
Satun officials were working on Friday to find ways of rescuing a French tourist stranded in a gorge on Koh Adang, the largest island of the Tarutao Marine National Park in the Andaman Sea.
Tourist police were alerted on Thursday afternoon that Claire Marie Drapeau, a 29-year-old Frenchwoman, had gone missing while visiting Koh Adang alone. They rushed to the island and teamed up with park officials and members of Koh Lipe Tourism Business Association who were searching for the missing tourist.
Local tourism operators launched a drone to survey the area where she was last seen, near the Chado Cliff. They spotted the tourist in a gorge about 100 metres beneath the cliff. She appeared to be uninjured, they said.
At around 8pm on Thursday, a rescuer used ropes to descend into the gorge, where he checked Drapeau’s condition and stayed with her overnight. Officials were drafting a plan to rescue the Frenchwoman on Friday during daylight as working at night in the wooded area is considered dangerous for rescue staff.
Initial investigation showed that Drapeau was staying at a resort on Koh Lipe and boarded a boat to Koh Adang alone on Thursday. She then reportedly walked from Adang Resort to Chado Cliff, but strayed off the national park track and became lost in the woods.
